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By Matthew Robinson and Khaleda Rahman
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Gloria Steinem has died "peacefully" at age 92.
The feminist icon died at her home in New York City on Wednesday, "surrounded by some of the many who loved her," according to a post shared on her and her foundation's Instagram page. No cause of death was given.
"Gloria's near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end," the post said.
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"Gloria's greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor."
Steinem spent recent years "doing the two things she loved most: being in community with others and writing," the post said.
"Gloria loved the tradition of lighting signal fires on hills to light the way to the other side of the mountain. Lighting your own candle for Gloria makes you part of this global and celestial community circle. In lieu of flowers, Gloria has asked that those wishing to honor her with a gift, may make a donation to Gloria’s Foundation," it said.
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Steinem was an author and activist who became one of the most visible symbols of the U.S. women’s rights movement and a fierce advocate for feminist causes throughout her life.
A co-founder of Ms. Magazine, she spent much of her life advocating on the road, speaking at college campuses, community centers, rallies and marches.
She began her career as a journalist and found notoriety for an exposé in 1963 on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire after going undercover as a Playboy bunny. She later spoke of her regret about the assignment.
"Be warned that if you're a woman journalist and you choose an underground job that's related to sex or looks, you may find it hard to shake the very thing you were exposing," she said in a 2011 interview.
She credits a meeting she attended six years after the Playboy assignment, where women spoke out boldly in favor of abortion rights, with changing her career path from journalism to activism.
"That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me," Steinem told the Associated Press in 2022 as she reflected on the Supreme Court's 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Steinem had undergone an illegal abortion herself at the age of 22.
"Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy," she said.
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Former President Barack Obama awarded Steinem the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, in 2013.
During the ceremony, Obama credited Steinem with prompting "lasting political and social change in America and abroad."
"As a writer, a speaker, an activist, she awakened a vast and often skeptical public to problems like domestic violence, the lack of affordable child care, unfair hiring practices," he said. "And because of her work, across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve."
Tributes To Steinem
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid tribute to Steinem on Thursday on social media, saying she had “pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her.”
“She wasn’t going to be an astronaut, but she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut,” Clinton said in a statement. “She wasn’t going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX. And she wasn’t on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women’s rights.”
Clinton said Steinem “was at heart, an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice she made every day.”
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She also paid tribute on CBS Mornings, where she told host Gayle King that she was "heartsick" over Steinem's death, like "everyone who not only knew her but followed her, was inspired and challenged by her."
Clinton said she first became aware of Steinem in the 1960s “when all of a sudden, this incredible smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity.”
She said that message helped inspire her own political career, which led to her becoming the first woman to top a major party's presidential ticket when she ran for office in 2016.
"I think about all of the ways that I saw in my own life, over the course of about 10 to 15 years, Gloria's pushing on those doors to finally get them open," she said. "Not only for her to walk through, but for her to lead literally millions of others."
Meghan Markle also paid tribute to Steinem, who she described as her “friend and mentor.”
In a post on Instagram, the Duchess of Sussex wrote that she was “grateful to know that in these last few weeks and days she knew exactly how loved and admired she was.”
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“Publicly, we did interviews together, called young voters to encourage them to have their voices heard, attended award ceremonies, and brainstormed how to help this beautiful yet complicated world to become more equitable," she wrote.
“But privately, she was even better than you would imagine- spending Thanksgiving with our family, introducing me to one of my best friends (forever the champion of female friendship), loving our children with her whole heart, counseling me during hard times, and giving extraordinary advice and perspective with a cup of tea and an unrivaled cheekiness and wit.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X that he was “heartbroken to hear of the passing of my friend Gloria Steinem.”
He wrote: “I was fortunate to know her well over the years. Through decades of advocacy, she never stopped fighting for a better, more equal society. My heart is with her loved ones and everyone she inspired.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Steinem "a fearless trailblazer who transformed the fight for equality in America and inspired generations of women to know their power.
"Her voice, courage and relentless advocacy helped break down barriers and open doors once firmly closed to women," Pelosi wrote on X. "May it be a comfort to all of us who loved Gloria that her extraordinary legacy will live on in every generation that carries her fight forward."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Steinem had "inspired generations."
"Fearless, witty and a quintessential New Yorker, she broke down barriers and changed what was possible for women everywhere. Her impact will be felt for generations to come," Hochul wrote on X. "New York is keeping all who knew and loved her in our hearts today."
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said Steinem had "blazed a new trail for generations of women."
"A proud New Yorker, she spent her life as an activist, journalist, and leader fighting for women to have an equal voice in our society. Her legacy lives on in every woman who speaks up, leads, and refuses to accept limits on her ambitions. May her memory be a blessing," Menin wrote on X.
Agnès Callamard, the French human rights activist and secretary general of Amnesty International, wrote on X: "A sad moment for many of us with the death of Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem. It is a moment of remembrance and celebration of this extraordinary woman. And it is too a moment of reflection.
"The fight for gender justice, women's equality is at a critical juncture. The advancements of the last decades are attacked, threatened, mocked. We resist, fight back, build anew."
The journalist Christiane Amanpour wrote on X that Steinem "will go down in history as one of the most important activists of all time, leading a movement for the equality of half the world: its women."
"She lived a long and passionate life dedicated to this vital and basic cause. She did it with intellectual precision, emotional awareness, humor and beauty. May she rest in peace and may the cause thrive," she said.
Who Is Gloria Steinem’s Family?
Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, to Leo and Ruth Steinem. She and her older sister, Susanne, spent much of their childhood traversing the country as their father was a traveling antiques salesman.
At 66, Steinem married entrepreneur and activist David Bale in a ceremony in Oklahoma in 2000. The couple was married for three years until Bale's death from brain lymphoma at the age of 62 in 2003. Steinem had no biological children, but became stepmother to Bale's four children, including actor Christian Bale.
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Ties to CIA
Steinem served as director of the Independent Research Service, a nonprofit educational foundation primarily funded by the CIA, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
A 1967 exposé in Ramparts magazine revealed that the CIA had secretly funded groups like the Independent Research Service to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War.
In an interview with The New York Times in 1967, Steinem said she had been aware the CIA was funding the group, which sent American students to festivals supported by the Soviet Union.
“Far from being shocked by this invoIvement, I was happy to find some liberals in government in those days who were farsighted and cared enough to get Americans of all political views to the festival,” she told The Times.
But she said that most of the students supported by the foundation were not aware of its links to the intelligence agency, which she insisted had not tried to alter any of the foundation’s policies.
She later faced criticism for the role, but defended her ties to the CIA.
“In my experience the agency was completely different from its image: it was liberal, nonviolent and honorable,” she told The Washington Post.
Steinem’s Tribute to Doctor Who Helped Her Get Abortion
Steinem dedicated her 2015 memoir, My Life on the Road, to the doctor who helped her obtain an abortion in 1957, when the procedure was illegal.
“This book is dedicated to: Dr. John Sharpe of London, who in 1957, a decade before physicians in England could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a twenty-two-year-old American on her way to India," she wrote in the dedication.
"Knowing only that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, 'You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life.'
“Dear Dr. Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust, would not mind if I say this so long after your death: I've done the best I could with my life. This book is for you.”
Steinem read the dedication aloud during an appearance on CNN in May 2022, after a leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court was set to strike down Roe v. Wade.
Sharpe “embodies the gratitude that so many of us feel,” Steinem said.
"I think there are women and men across this country saying thank you to physicians who recognize individual rights."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sam Wilson.
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